Content Research

Character components Typographic characters have basic component parts. The easiest way to differentiate characteristics of type designs is by comparing the structure of these components. The following terms identify some of the components referred to in the next chapter. AscenderThe lowercase character stroke which extends above the x-height. BarThe horizontal stroke on the characters ‘A’, ‘H’, ‘T’, ‘e’, ‘f’, ‘t’. BaselineThe imaginary horizontal line to which the body, or main component, of characters are aligned. BowlThe curved stroke which surrounds a counter. Bracket A curved line connecting the serif to the stroke. Bracketed serifs with cupped bases  Brecketed serifs with flat bases Unbracketed serifs ContrastThe amount of variation in between thick and thin strokes. Minimum contrast Extreme contrast CounterThe empty space inside the body stroke. Descender.The lowercase character stroke which extends below the baseline. Loop The bottom part of the lowercase roman ‘g’. Sans serifFrom the French, meaning “without serif”. A typeface which has no serifs.Sans serif typefaces are typically uniform in stroke width. SerifTapered corners on the ends of the main stroke. Serifs originated with the chiseled guides made by ancient stonecutters as they lettered monuments. Some serif designs may also be traced back to characteristics of hand calligraphy. Note that serif type is typically thick and thin in stroke weight. Shoulder The part of a curved stroke coming from the stem. StemA stroke which is vertical or diagonal. StressThe direction in which a curved stroke changes weight. Oblique, or angled, stress Semi-oblique stress Vertical stress TerminalThe end of a stroke which does not terminate in a serif. X-heightThe height of the body, minus ascenders and descenders, which is equal to the height of the lowercase ‘x’. Avant Garde Melior Goudy Oldstyle X-heights vary among typefaces in the same point size and strongly effect readability and gray vaule of text blocks. RGB Color Mode RGB is the color scheme that is associated with electronic displays, such as CRT, LCD monitors, digital cameras and scanners. It is an additive type of color mode, that combines the primary colors, red, green and blue, in various degrees to create a variety of different colors. When all three of the colors are combined and displayed to their full extent, the result is a pure white. When all three colors are combined to the lowest degree, or value, the result is black. Software such as photo editing programs use the RGB color mode because it offers the widest range of colors. CMYK Color Mode Printers print color onto paper using the CMYK color mode only. This is a four color mode that utilizes the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black in various amounts to create all of the necessary colors when printing images. It is a subtractive process, which means that each additional unique color means more light is removed, or absorbed, to create colors. When the first three colors are added together, the result is not pure black, but rather a very dark brown. The K color, or black, is used to completely remove light from the printed picture, which is why the eye perceives the color as black.